NEW YORK CITY: Developers Overturn Winning Design For AIDS Memorial

Only hours after the winning design for a planned West Village AIDS memorial was announced, the developers of the site rejected that design for one of their own.

Rudin Management, which won City Planning Commission approval on Jan. 23 for its plans for the former St. Vincent's Hospital site, said it will work with the AIDS Memorial Park coalition, Community Board 2 and locals on plans for the park, but that its current design by landscape architect Rick Parisi will provide its basis. “Our neighborhood park design … allows for a commemoration of both those affected by the AIDS epidemic and of St. Vincent’s Hospital for its 160 years of service to the community and its steadfast commitment to care for those suffering from HIV/AIDS," Rudin CEO and vice chairman Bill Rudin said in a statement. [snip] Parisi's design for the park —which some locals called generic — calls for more than 600 seats, 31 trees and 4,861 square feet of plantings.